thestig, 2/15

Through our study of Lyotard, I’m confused: do I agree or disagree with his train of though on post-modernity vs. modernity?

One of Lyotard’s main points is that post modernity opens the door to opportunities and textualists – writers, critics, architects – to make a differences, as opposed to modernism, which requires a specialist before being able to do anything. I think I agree with Lyotard, in that do we need a “specialist” in order to pick a movie to rent or see? The development of Web 2.0 has made it possible for the consumer to see what other “average joe’s” like. This critic may not be accurate in his or her observations of a film, but it is someone’s opinion. What’s the harm in that?

Then there is the concept of reality attempting to suggest it is a copy of the real world, but the truth is it isn’t; that you cannot capture “reality” without verisimilitude. Well, we don’t stop trying to: I just visited with my aunt and uncle who recently got an iPod Touch. One of the applications they showed me was a virtual guitar. My uncle, who is a professional musician, started to complain (jokingly) that he wasn’t able to add a certain effect to the music. Nonetheless, he was able to play this “guitar” pretty well, and it was pretty entertaining to watch.

I think what we are seeing a shift from modernism to post-modernism. Before, everything available was mainstream ideology; today, you have more choices, more opportunities, and it’s all available for less than what it would have been worth years ago. This post-modern era started with the personal computer, and has since been sustained by Web developments and iPhones.

Though Habermas might argue that I’m an anti-modernist, I’m not. I do not think science is bad and overwhelming; the world is not ‘getting worse.’ I don’t think that each day, “The only thing I know for sure is that I don’t know anything; that I know less than I did yesterday:” I just find myself realizing that each day I learn that there is a lot I don’t know. Post-modernism is lighting these bulbs today, in that the various opportunities presented to us in today’s world opens the door to new discoveries.